Courage is
by MertleYuts
Summary: Snow White and Rose Red done epic fantasy style, because everything is better with fireballs and sword fights.
1. Chapter 1

**TLC hit the 1000 review mark, guys! Whooo!**

**I had promised myself a while ago that if it ever did that I would write a oneshot for whoever was the 1000th reviewer. So, honors and dedications go to DragonOwl, who pushed TLC over 1000 reviews! Thank you for providing the prompt that resulted in this, which is neither a oneshot nor particularly true to the prompt but was a great prompt anyway. It was exceedingly fun to write, so thank you so much, you are great. More chapters will follow later.**

**Thanks also to the classy ladies in my Saturday night writing group for fixing Snow and the ending. You guys are the best ever. Also, I wish I could pun, but I can't pun so Snow can't either.**

_Courage is greatness in what you will pursue and in what you will give up._

_.o.o.o._

Soldiers gathered at the edge of the hill, huddling together and rubbing anxious hands. They watched the snow drift onto the valley below, covering the enemy camp. At their front stood a woman with red hair, red cheeks, and red cloak. They looked to her— looked to their Hero for courage. The Lady Hero Rose smiled obligingly.

"They came upon us faster than we had hoped, My Lady Hero," her Lieutenant Demory muttered, running a hand through his hair.

"Unfortunately." She strained her eyes against the darkness. Her own soldiers had lit campfires, and they were making it harder to pierce the gloom of the snowy valley. The army below, however, had only one single spot of flickering fire. Shadow Knights hardly needed such human comforts as warmth and light. They were constructs of black armor and blacker shadows and didn't even need sleep. Still, there was that one fire.

"He's here," she breathed, words puffing cold and white from her lips into the frigid air. She looked to Bear, the solid, stoic beast beside her. "The dwarf has finally come out again."

"Indeed, though our plans were made for a mountain top fight," Bear's deep voice made the very air shudder.

"Better now than never," she replied. After all the battles she had fought and led, after all the caves and castles they had searched, after all the men she had lost— the dwarf had returned, and she would defeat him. She would not doubt herself. She would not let her men doubt themselves.

The Lady Hero Rose turned to the few men and women who had gathered around, forsaking the warmth of their companions and campfires for the fires of courage. She made her smile wide. "There!" she pointed down to the lonely campfire and the motion set her red cloak flapping. "There is the evil that has threatened our land these long years." Her voice rang out proud and strong in the air. "There is the power we have fought in field and forest. The evil that stole our king. The threat to our families, to our way of life— The power we have bested before, and that we will defeat again! He has finally come out to face us, because he knows that he can no longer hide. His armies cannot stand against us on their own. He has come because he fears what we know. That we are destined for victory! We will win because we know the true meaning of courage!" A cheer started up, and her voice grew hoarse as she rose with the din. "This time tomorrow, the war will be over! Our land will be free and we will go home, every one of us a Hero!"

The soldiers cheered and shook their swords, punched the sky, and ran back to their campfires to share with the others this newfound warmth.

Rose returned quietly to Lieutenant Demory and Bear, her smile small again. "The men are right to put their faith in you," Demory gave a small bow of his head.

She tangled shaking, cold fingers in Bear's fur. "You did well," he growled. She stood a little straighter. The men saw her as a Hero first. Yet, somehow, knowing that Bear still saw her as a longtime friend made his words mean all the more. She nodded, taking one more moment to soak up Bear's solid calm.

The Lady Hero Rose rested light fingers on the sword at her side, swaddled in cloth and with a makeshift hilt. _Greatness in what you will pursue_, it read, engraved in the steel of the blade. It was a reminder that they had beaten the dwarf twice before, though admittedly he hadn't had the armies back then. Still, they could do it again. They would do it again.

_Hello, dwarf_, she thought, fingers touching ice cold steel.

_Hello, Hero. Ready to play?_

She took a deep breath. "Fetch my sister."

.o.o.o.

The Lady Hero Snow lounged in a most undignified manner on the ground, leaning against one of the round stones that dotted the army's hilltop.

"Two Kings, Two Queens." She threw down her cards into the circle and the soldiers all around her groaned.

"It ain't fair if you got magic!" one of the broader men of their motley group, complained, but hid a smile as he pushed over his dried apples.

"My magic is all the way over there!" she protested, pointing to the pearly white sheath that lounged, sword-less, a large step away.

"Don't matter, it's magic. It's not for the likes of us soldiers to understand, and so I say it's magic that you won the last three hands!" he insisted.

She laughed as she gathered up various dried fruit and mead vouchers. "I'll give you a hint how to tell if I'm using magic," she winked, "Your cards will be on fire." Laughter echoed around the campfire, and it was almost enough to chase away the thought that tomorrow they would fight- and die.

"Aye, it's battle magic, Gerith," an older but rugged woman snorted. "It ain't exactly a subtle art."

Snow smiled and laughed along, but her fingers found themselves twisting the white ends of her hair. Only the very top of her hair still retained its original golden color; soon after this battle perhaps- it would all be white. White as the falling snow. White as the sheath glinting just outside of her reach. What would happen to her then? Would the magic start stealing the red of her cheeks? Or something else?

"Snow— Er— My Lady Hero," a young soldier, Jared if she recalled, came running up to their camp fire.

"Yes?" Snow asked, trying to ignore the thought that the boy never would have fumbled for how to address Rose. Such differences meant that the men thought of her as more of a friend than a Hero. That was a good thing, wasn't it?

"The Lady Hero Rose requests your presence at her tent," the boy responded.

Snow groaned for show to her companions. "Well, that's my exit." She held her hand out, not moving to rise. "It has been a pleasure." She shook each soldier's hand in turn, and although they smiled and joked at her having to leave before they could win back their losses, she could see the admiration in each of their eyes. They were all awed that one of their Lady Heroes had come, the night before a battle, to play and joke with them. Snow knew that she would never be able to inspire the respect and loyalty of an entire army the way Rose did. Snow was too silly and too forgettable, but for a couple sundry men every evening, maybe she could make a difference.

"Alright," she craned her head around the rock she lay against and smiled to the boy, "Where is Bear? No way I'm getting to this meeting without him."

"Here, Snow," the deep rumbling voice startled the messenger boy, and then again when the huge inky black bear padded out of the shadows.

"Ah, good." Snow grinned. Leaning and almost falling onto her side, she snatched back up her sheath and tucked it into the strap on her back. "I was starting to worry I would have to walk there all on my own!" she joked.

"We couldn't have that." Bear smiled in that comforting way that bears shouldn't really be able to. It was probably the eyes, she thought. He had hazel eyes that could warm her to her very bones.

He thumped down beside her and she reached for the wide saddle on his back, pulling herself on by the pommel and heaving her useless legs up after her. The men made a move to help her, but she was already on the saddle with Bear rising to his feet.

"Goodnight, all," she gave a grinning salute to them before tossing down her recently won mead vouchers. "After the battle, you have yourself a drink, on me."

And with that, Bear led her off into the night.


	2. Chapter 2

**Next chapter up, in which Snow becomes sassier! Thanks again to DragonOwl and my lovely writing crew.**

.o.o.o.

Rose stood still, hands clasped behind her back as she examined a map of the area. She wanted to pace the length of her tent, but pacing was a nervous habit, and she was a leader— a Hero. Heroes were not nervous in the face of battle. She met the eyes of her lieutenants before her. They all waited, silently.

Where was Snow?

She reached for the sword blade that was no longer at her side, but that would have been foolish. Even if she called for Snow through the blade the dwarf would hear as well. He, after all, held the hilt, the third piece of the Hero's Sword. Arguably, it was the strongest piece since it had stood for three years against the blade and sheath combined. It didn't matter; she would win. Rose was a hundred times the Hero that the dwarf was, and the sword would respond to her courage. _Courage is greatness in what you will pursue._

Snow entered, seated atop Bear. Her white-tipped hair and broken legs swinging with Bear's every step _and in what you will give up_.

"Sorry I'm late!" Snow said with her typical flippant grin, "I had a bit of trouble finding my footing."

Rose frowned. She had spoken with Snow about this self-deprecating humor of hers. How were the men to take her seriously if she wouldn't do so herself?

"Snow, you can't bring the sheath in here," Rose chided instead.

"Right! Battle plans tent. Completely forgot." Snow tossed her hair to cover the light shade of pink that rose to her cheeks and quickly wrestled the sheath from her back.

"Put it with the blade," Rose ordered the messenger boy who had fetched her sister here.

"Yes, My Lady Hero," the boy bowed, accepting the sheath, and scurried out. Bear brought Snow to the only chair in the tent.

Finally, they could begin.

"As must be apparent by now, we did not make the mountain in time." Rose addressed the small gathering of lieutenants. "We need new plans, and we need them now. The enemy is positioned throughout the valley," she said circling, with one finger, the black stones placed atop on the map. "The dwarf needs to control his army from the center." She dropped a polished red stone at the center of the black. "He is our first and only target. If we can get to him and take the hilt, we win. Now, how do we do it?"

The tent was silent. Every man and woman stared at the map. Their own army, marked in white pebbles, seemed to almost swallow the opposing black stones, and yet these were Shadow Knights. Three could lay waste to a village. Four if the village thought itself prepared. They faced hundreds.

"My Lady Hero," an older, balding Lieutenant spoke with crossed arms and poorly masked disapproval. "Why are we even speaking of battle plans? We should still try to reach the hold on the mountain."

"And what good would that do us?" Rose snapped, trying to reign in her annoyance and failing. "We will pointlessly loose men on the march there. Then, once we get to the hold, say we threw stones at them from castle walls all day; we're fighting Shadow Knights. They will pull themselves back together and attack at sunrise if no men are there to break their gemstones."

"My Lady Hero," Demory spoke softly, quieting the other Lieutenants. "The only shadow knights we must defeat are those standing between us and the dwarf."

"True." She nodded. "So how do we decrease that number?" Rose looked to each of her men.

Arguments sprouted between the Lieutenants immediately. There were few enough ideas, and not a one of them was free of dissenters.

"Excuse me, you're blocking my—" Rose heard Snow protesting from the background in her chair. The Lieutenants didn't even break stride in their argument.

"Arrows are practically useless; we would do better with catapults."

"And from where would we procure these catapults by morning?"

"Enough," Rose interrupted, and they quieted just as quickly. "We need options, not arguments. Something, give me something."

"Excuse me!"

"This mark here, what is it?" Rose pointed to the map.

"A large pile of stones, some kind of ruins probably."

"Large enough to provide any defensible structure for the men?"

"Barely large enough for a few men."

"What about—"

The stones went flying, scattered by a single boot and followed by a series of assorted dried fruits to various thick heads.

"Oh dear, clumsy me," Snow smiled with anything but innocence from her chair, one white sock peeking out from under her pant leg. "But since I have your attention, I have a plan to suggest."

The Lieutenants all turned to Rose to see if she would hear it. Snow rolled her eyes, and Rose shot back a look that summed up all of her attempted lectures about how Heroes should act. "Let's hear it," she said before Snow could make that face that Rose knew was coming.

Attention shifted slowly and critically back on to Snow.

"Well," she cleared her throat and rested a hand on Bear. "We hide Rose and a small force of men in those ruins, then retreat—"

"What?" the old Lieutenant interrupted, "We already decided that retreat was not an option. I would never doubt My Lady Hero Rose, but against an entire army of—"

"They don't need to fight an entire army of anything." Snow glared. Only Rose seemed to notice Snow's hand reaching slowly for another dried fruit.

"This is War, Lady Hero, someone needs to fight—"

"Please, continue, Snow," Rose stepped deftly between the both of them.

"Thank you." Snow made a mock-prim face and dusted invisible lint off her shirt before continuing. "Now, Rose and the men hide in the ruins until the army has overtaken most of the hill with chasing us. Once the dwarf's army overtakes the ruins, the men just have to get Rose through a few knights so she can take down the dwarf."

The tent was silent.

"It's a pretty good plan." Demory shrugged, finally. "And if we attack first with our main force, he will be more likely to follow without question."

Rose sent Snow a small smile.

"There is a large problem," Bear said. "The dwarf is very clever. If he does not see Rose at the front of the charge, as she is every battle, he will know something is wrong."

The tent fell silent again.

Rose frowned. It had been a good plan. If there was just some way they could—

"Snow could do it," Demory spoke. Rose instantly fixed him with the fiercest glare she had.

No. Not an option.

"She has the sheath," another Lieutenant agreed but more slowly. "The dwarf would fall to any part of the Hero's Sword."

Rose looked about, hiding her alarm at how quickly this plan had gotten away from her. She turned to Snow, expecting her to look as pale as her hair, but she looked to be in agreement.

Rose's hands fisted. They couldn't expect Snow to— she couldn't even stand. No, she would not put her sister in harm's way. Not again. She opened her mouth to shut down this line of thought, but nothing came out. It was Bear who spoke for her.

"I'm not sure this is the wisest course of—"

"I'm not useless!" Snow cut him off with more force than Rose, or even Snow herself, had expected.

"No one suggested—"

But Snow had more to say. "With the sheath, I'm just as good as— Okay, well, I'm almost as good a fighter as Rose. Honestly, I make one little mistake two years ago, and suddenly people treat me like I'm some kind of invalid or something."

Not a single person in the tent knew how to respond to that, least of all Rose. Her sister, bloody and broken on the battle field rose to the front of her mind.

Snow rolled her eyes and calmed her tone. "Bear would be with me, I'll have the sheath, and we don't have a lot of other options." Snow looked both Rose and Bear in the eye. "I may be the clever sister, but it doesn't mean I can't fight too." Snow paired her joking tone with one of her confident smiles, but her eyes gave her away. She could talk as big as she liked, but she still matched every other gaze in the tent as they all sought Rose's approval. _Let me try again. Let me prove myself,_ her eyes said.

Rose couldn't seem to remember how to speak. After all Snow had been though, after all she had lost, how could she be so willing to—

Her hand reached instinctively for a sword blade that wasn't there. _Courage is greatness in what you will pursue and in what you will give up_. They were the words carved into three parts of the Hero's Sword. The words she had tried to live by for three years. The words of a Hero. The words she had failed.

She released the tight breath she had been holding. Snow was showing true courage. Rose had always been so focused on pursuing greatness, she had forgotten the second part: _what you will give up_. Snow had already given up so much, but she still managed to face the world with jokes and a smile. Even with all that Snow had lost, it only seemed to harden her resolve and willingness to risk more.

Rose wasn't even willing to risk losing her sister.

Rose stilled her heart and mind, and met Snow's eyes again. She would be proud of her sister. Snow was the Hero that Rose tried to be, and all she asked from Rose was her confidence.

"You will do well." Rose nodded, shoving back the doubts.

Snow beamed. The meeting continued.

.o.o.o.

The candles were low by the time the details were hammered out. The lieutenants left to prepare their men, and Rose looked to her sister seated across from her. Despite her brave words, Snow was slowly starting to show her anxiety. "I can do it," she said, as if she still had someone to convince.

Rose knelt before Snow and rested her hands on her shoulders. "I know you can. I love you more than anything, and I know you can." She spent so much time trying to give her men confidence and courage, and now it was the only thing she could think of to give her sister.

"Now, don't you go getting yourself killed, Rosie." Snow gave a too loud laugh. "I'm going to need someone to groan while I regale them with the hundredth retelling of my great deeds in battle, and we both know that Bear is perfectly hopeless when it comes to appropriately dramatic outrage."

"Oh, Snow," Rose pulled her sister roughly into her arms and held her close. Snow hugged her back. Both sisters clutched each other, trying not to cry for the other's sake. "Please, please stay safe," Rose begged, pulling back and looking her sister square in the eye. "You have to come back."

"If my big sister orders it, then I'll rise from the very grave if I have to," Snow said, and Rose fought the urge to lecture her, yet again, about poorly timed humor.

"And you," Rose turned to Bear, still seated quietly beside them. "You stay safe and you protect her. Please."

"I would protect both of you with my life. You know this." Bear's gaze seemed to still some terror inside her, and she felt her heart flutter.

"Yes," Rose whispered. "But I need both of you."

"I will try," he said simply, and rested his great shaggy head on her shoulder.

"Alright, well," Snow interrupted the moment with a clap. "Time to go collect my men and set up our little ambush. Quickly now, before I remember that I can't walk and that this is complete and utter madness!"

"Be brave," Rose said, rising.

Snow pulled herself onto Bear's back. "Of course, can't have any fear if I want to be a Hero." She threw back her head, tilting her chin with a confidence that Rose did not feel and, she suspected, that Snow did not feel either. Rose nodded silently in response, and they all exchanged a final forced smile.

Rose watched them go, and then quietly collapsed onto the chair. She could still feel Snow's warmth in the wooden seat.

She was tired. It had been a long night, and her head felt too heavy to hold high. She breathed. She breathed frigid air and tried to clear her mind. Maybe, it was better that Snow was to be the one to take the hilt from the dwarf. The sword would obey a Hero with true courage. What had Snow said? A Hero could not have fear. Rose did not fear Shadow Knights and battle, but she feared losing her sister. She feared the sudden realization that she was not the Hero she tried to be.

"You are a Hero."

She started up. She met Lieutenant Demory's eyes. Had he been there all along? "What?" she said finally.

"You are a Hero," he repeated with a shrug. "I just thought you might need to hear it."

"Of course I'm a Hero." Rose stood abruptly, walking back to the map and trying to subtly compose her features. "I wield the Hero's blade and lead an army against evil. What else would you call it?"

He shrugged again. Rather than reply he stooped to pick up several of the stones that had been scattered by Snow's boot. Rose dug her fingernails into the soft wood of the table, but said nothing. He was a quiet young man, Lieutenant Demory, but he seemed to have a wisdom beyond his years. In the two years she had fought with him she had seen how he watched the world with keen eyes. The day she learned to listen to him was the day she decided to promote him to Lieutenant. He was still her Lieutenant; so, she kept listening. "Why would you say that?"

He clicked the stones down on the table before her with careful precision. "Because you get this look, sometimes, like you don't see in yourself what everyone else sees." His serious eyes locked with hers. "What good is perfect courage, if you have it alone? The dwarf has enough courage to wield the hilt, but I doubt you would call him a Hero," he said. "You are a Hero. Not because you have courage, but because you give the men you fight with courage. You give them hope."

Protests formed in her throat, but they couldn't seem to make the final leap to words, so she pursed her lips instead.

"You must see the way the men look at you. They trust you to lead them."

"I'm no Hero, or leader—" it slipped from her lips before she could catch it, barely a whisper, but his eyes flashed angry.

"You aren't if you say you aren't," he snapped, with all the polite displeasure his disposition would allow, and left the table. Rose clenched her teeth so hard her jaw ached.

"It's hardly so simple," she hissed, halting his steps. "Heroes have to be greater. Greater than—," she waved her hands as if to indicate something beyond even words. "Greater than just themselves," she settled on finally. "How can I be greater than myself when I am so intimately acquainted with exactly where I begin and end?"

Demory stood, only two steps away, running his hand through his hair. "I think it must be hard for any Hero to see themselves as others do," he said slowly. "To those you lead, you are. You may not feel it, but the rest of us know it. Of all the leaders I have seen, there was only one man who even came close to the way you can inspire trust in your soldiers. You can be the Hero you need to be, and Snow can too." He nodded and seemed to feel it is was time to leave.

"Wait!" her words stopped him at the tent flap. "What happened to him? The man. The other leader. Did he— Is he still a great leader, or did he fail?"

"I don't know," Demory said so softly his words almost escaped out with the wind before she could catch them. "I'm still trying to find out." Then he was gone.

Rose sank back into the chair, clutching her head and uncertain if she felt better or worse for listening.

"I am a Hero." She tested the words in the air to see if they rang with any truth.

"I am a Hero." She swore she could taste the lie, but she grit her teeth and made herself repeat it.

"I am a Hero."

Even if she wasn't, her men needed her to be, and she would try. _Courage is greatness in what you will pursue and in what you will give up._ She would try, and she knew just how to start.


	3. Chapter 3

**I completely forgot to update! For like two weeks! Sorry sorry!**

**Anyway, from this chapter on it is pretty much just battle scenes! Yay battle scenes!**

.o.o.o.

"I can do this. I can do this."

_I'm going to die._

Snow let out a short breath, expelling the thought, and watched the misty fear evaporate against the stones that hid her and her men. She resumed her whispered mantra, "I can do this. I can do this."

The stones made her nervous. That was it. Who decided to build a structure out of round stones? No wonder they were all falling down. The ones that still formed the little room they occupied were balanced precariously. Stone spheres, larger than she was, were stacked together and filled in with smaller and smaller stones. It was as if the hill had decided to start laying eggs and then the eggs had decided to start laying their own.

She watched her men shift quietly, making last minute adjustments to armor and weapons. They all kept peeking towards the round hole that served as a door to their hideout. The opening looked up the hill towards their army, and with a bit of shifting in Bear's saddle Snow could almost make out Rose at the front. She had started her speech to the men.

Even at this distance, the men in the ruins shifted closer to the door, gravitating towards the strength that perpetually seemed to hang around Rose as bright and bold as her red cloak.

_I should make a speech_, Snow thought. But what would she say? Rose seemed to snatch the words out of thin air. It couldn't be that hard, right?

"Well," Snow began. They turned to her, as if surprised by the noise. "This is it, huh?"

What did she say next? She tried to grin to fill the space.

"Those men up there, they are going to be so jealous of us." She caught looks of confusion and quickly tried to explain. "When this is over, everyone is going to know who the real Heroes are: the men who brought down the dwarf."

She chose one man's face and pretended she was talking just to him. "I can't wait to see the look on the dwarf's face," she slipped easily into a simpler conversational tone. "When he realizes how we tricked him, yeah?" The man smiled. The others seemed to as well. "You know what I want to say to him when we snatch the hilt from his hands?" she paused. "You have one minute. So run, because your time, like you, is short." The men nodded, and there were a few chuckles. It wasn't a bad speech, but it was hardly stirring. Still, it seemed to help the men somewhat.

Snow bit back a sigh as the men drifted back towards the door to watch Rose. "Well that was terrible," she muttered quietly to Bear. "How does Rose do it?"

"It was not terrible." Bear rumbled beneath her as he spoke.

"That's kind of you to lie to me like that." Snow laughed, patting his side. "I'll try to pretend that I believe you." She pretended for three entire breaths. "Rose would have had them cheering by the end." A cheer from their army rose up in the distance, as if to reinforce her point.

Bear sensed the despair leaking into her voice, and, bless him, he did his best to head it off. "I believe our intentions are to hide here. A cheer would be ill advised."

"Well, cheering very quietly then." Snow waved her hands as if to dismiss the bothersome details. "I didn't even once mention courage or defeating evil or— or what are those things Rose is always on about? Avenging the lost King or something."

She should not worry so. She knew it. Kind as Bear was being, she couldn't evict the thought that she was probably trying his patience by whining. He probably wished he was with Rose instead of her. Who wouldn't choose the stronger sister over the foolish one? She tried to gather her worries and fears, tried to force them out with her breath, but they slipped from her control like contorting snakes.

She bit her lip. If anyone other than Bear could have heard her, she might have been able to bottle her fears and stay silent, but they were alone in their corner. "I don't know what I'm doing here," she sighed finally. "I was always the useless little sister. It should be her here." She rubbed a thumb over her broken legs.

Bear turned his head, to fix one stern hazel eye on her. "Enough of that. Your sister sent you because she believes in you. We all do. You will defeat the dwarf."

"How?" she wanted to shout it, but could not raise her voice above a whisper, for fear of disheartening the men. "Rose was always the warrior!"

"And you don't have to be," Bear insisted calmly. "You are not your sister, and there is nothing wrong with that. Your sister is strong, and you are just as strong in your own way. You are kind and brave. Brave enough to define your own kind of Heroism. It is why the sheath is powerful in your hands. It is why your sister loves you and believes you. It is why I love and believe in you."

Snow's heart beat in her ears, and she felt heat rise to her face.

"Oh, Bear, you with the sweet talk," she mumbled, shrugging to mask just how close to home the words had hit. "If you weren't so big and fluffy it might be terribly distracting, and right before a battle no less."

He was right. Of course he was right. She felt the sheath on her back. She had never shown it the same reverence that her sister showed the blade, but she could use it. She took a breath and expelled her fears.

She would be strong, just like Rose. She would be a Hero.

The cheering at the top of the hill grew to a wordless battle cry and was suddenly joined by the clattering, thudding sound of an entire army marching forward.

Her heart stuttered in her chest. It was beginning.

She caught a glimpse of Rose rushing forward at the head of the wave of men, sword held high and glinting in the winter sun. Then she was gone.

The men looked anxiously on, and the entire ruins seemed to shake with the same nervous energy. They were tired of waiting, but not a single man moved a step closer to the door.

It had begun, and all they could do was wait.

As eternities flew by, their stone room seemed to shrink and become intolerably claustrophobic.

"Snow?" A voice broke hesitantly through the oppressive silence.

The young messenger from last night stood before her, sweating even in the cold. What was he doing here? He clutched a long bundle of cloth.

"Yes?" Snow tilted her head.

"Your— The Lady Hero Rose, asked me to give you this once—," he paused and glanced at the last men of their army rushing past their ruins, "once the battle began." He thrust the bundle at her, as if eager to be rid of it. Snow frowned at it, it almost looked like—

Her heart stopped.

She accepted the bundle and recognized the wooden hilt at one end. "Oh, Rose," she whispered. Her hands shook as they pushed the cloth up from the hilt. Her fingers brushed over engraved words in the steel, _Greatness in_. "No. No, Rose." She couldn't seem to remember how to breathe.

_Come down, He- Why Hello, Hero Snow._

Snow dropped the blade.

.o.o.o.

Rose lifted her blade just in time to catch the Shadow Knight's sword. She grunted under the impact, side-stepped, and made a side swing of her own. The night-black armor parried her with a speed and ease that a mortal man weighted by that much armor would never manage. Her heartbeat pounded in her ears, drowning out even the din of battle around her. Her vision was tunneled on her opponent. She had never gone to battle without the Hero's blade before now, and this simple steel felt heavy in her hands as she struck.

She traded blows, seeking an opening. She just needed one chance at the gemstone that glittered ruby red on the helmet's forehead. A solid hit would break it, destroying the Shadow Knight. The only problem was getting that hit.

She ducked a thrust, but her feet slid in the dusting of snow. The Knight took the advantage, and his sword shot straight for her unprotected heart. She let herself fall to the ground. In the next breath she rolled and was on her feet again. She gripped her sword and tried to catch her breath, even as the Shadow Knight swiveled to face her.

This was how her men fought every battle, she reminded herself. No enchanted sword blades, just the skills they had learned. How could she have called herself a Hero? She blocked a crushing swing from above. She could feel her shoulder creak. The Hero's blade made a poor fighter a decent one. It couldn't defend, but it could translate the wielder's desire for victory into skill in attack. Rose had been training for years now, pouring every ounce of her considerable determination into becoming more than just a decent fighter in her own right. When she wielded the Hero's blade, she was invincible. In every battle she had fought fearlessly, because she had truly had nothing to fear.

She blocked again. The Knight was moving too fast, she couldn't seem to get in a responding blow. She felt fear, but she felt it with a sense of pride. Greatness in what she would pursue and in what she would give up. She was willing to give up her life.

A stray blow from another fight landed on the Shadow Knight's shoulder. Its swing wobbled. Instinct directed her entire focus at the momentary flaw. Her blade angled at the gem, and she breathed her courage sharply in. Her blade didn't move. The moment was gone. It took her a full moment to remember: She didn't wield the Hero's blade.

The Shadow Knight's sword swung at her neck. She jerked back. She didn't even feel the cut, just the warm blood that leaked down her cheek.

A flash of fear shook her. In a wild blow she ducked under the follow-through of the swing and dug her blade into the shoulder link of the knight's armor. Black smoke leaked out. The Knight's other arm landed a metal-fisted punch in her side, but the blow jerked the sword she held and the Knight's entire sword arm tumbled to the ground. The Knight had only a moment to look up before she rammed her hilt down onto the gem.

The red stone turned instantly black, and the Knight collapsed.

Rose breathed hard, standing over the pile of metal. One Shadow Knight. This was what it took for a normal man to defeat a single Shadow Knight. She looked up with wide eyes at her men around her, fighting, screaming, and dying. Her breath came in short gasps as she watched the nearest man crumple over a sword through his gut. The offending Shadow Knight faced Rose, and pulled his dripping sword from the man. She took a stumbling step backwards. She couldn't seem to lift the weight of her sword anymore.

What was she doing? They needed to retreat. This was never meant to be a real battle. They just needed to make it look convincing. Surely, the dwarf would be convinced by now? Her men were dying for no reason. She raised her voice to start crying the retreat, but it stuck in her throat.

No, she couldn't. They had barely even started fighting. She saw men looking to her. She was a Hero. _Courage is greatness in what you will pursue and in what you will give up_. She would keep fighting. They needed the enemy to follow them without question up the hill and around the ruins. They needed to give Snow her best chance.

Rose faced the approaching Shadow Knight. She raised her sword and shouted defiance to the sky. "Courage!" she screamed.

"Courage!" came her men's answering roar.


	4. Chapter 4

**Yay fight scenes!**

.o.o.o.

Snow had never more desperately wished for legs. Bear refused to take her to Rose so she could throw the blade at her feet. "She wanted to give you every advantage," he said. "She fights, confident in the knowledge that you will be safer." Snow didn't hold with it. She would have rushed out and put the sword in her stubborn sister's hand if she'd had any say in the matter. The problem was, she didn't seem to.

They needed to get out, to find Rose. She reached for the words to describe the hollow feeling in her stomach, but yet again she could not find them.

What would Rose say? What would she do?

She would give a stirring speech and rush off headlong into danger without a second thought, Snow thought cynically. She would leave her sister to piece together the ruins of their original plan.

The dwarf knew. He had spoken to her. She had not touched the steel of the blade again, but that once had been enough. He knew, and the element of surprise was gone. That was what she needed to say.

"The plan won't work," she said simply.

"What?" Bear asked.

"We have to get out," Snow nearly shouted with all the authority she could muster, startling the men from their own silent thoughts.

"Snow, I already told-"

"No, no." She tugged on his saddle to encourage him up. "The plan won't work; the dwarf knows that I am hiding with both the sheath and the sword because he can't talk to Rose. We will be caught if we do not move!" Snow silently cursed Rose for her selfless idiocy. If Rose had kept the damned blade Snow could have warned her immediately; as it was, she would have to find another way.

"We leave now," Snow ordered the men, but even Bear was already on his feet. "Get out. Get up the hill. We will blow the retreat and regroup at the mountain," Snow talked herself through the next steps.

Why weren't they moving?

She looked up, eyes focusing on the door. A shadow blocked the light from outside, a shadow in armor. They were here.

Snow let out a deep breath, releasing her fears, and pulled the blade from its protective cover and the sheath from its place on her back. The blade caught fire. Bear stiffened, caught her hint, and charged. Snow swung wildly, not with the grace and precision that Rose seemed to command, but, at least, with a desperate, skill-less approximate. The knight ducked Snow's swing but took a direct hit from a thousand pounds of raging bear.

Snow and Bear burst out of the ruins, soldiers trailing after them. A few loose Shadow Knights circled them. Rose's forces had successfully held most of them back, but enough had wormed past and sought out their hiding place that she knew her suspicion was right. The plan was in shambles, and now was not the time to worry about her reputation. Snow held her flaming sword aloft and shouted. "Retreat!"

One of her men blew the horn for retreat from behind her. Their army below looked up in confusion: Was it a true call for retreat? Some men fought on, but most didn't. They took their chance and ran. The line broke. A wave of black Shadow Knights burst through, swarming up the hill. Snow barely had time to worry about the ones below, because the few Knights that already surrounded her attacked.

Her men responded instantly, engaging the knights, but they seemed so slow and graceless in comparison to their metal foes. Snow blew the last of her fear out of her lungs and raised high the blade. A shadow knight charged from her left, and fell to a fiery blast of the sheath's magic channeled through the sword. Smoking armor clattered to the ground, motionless. She could do this.

Bear didn't even need a signal from her; he ran towards the nearest Knight. The Knight kicked a soldier to the ground and raised his sword to finish him. The Hero's blade jumped in Snow's hand to defend the man. A blast of fire from the sheath enveloped the Knight. The black armor turned glowing red, then white, then collapsed with a melted mass where its head had been. Snow took down Knight after Knight. She was invincible. This must be how Rose felt in every battle. Snow blasted three Knights with one fireball and defended against a fourth.

No. Even Rose had never been this powerful.

She turned her attention on the wave of Shadow Knights that had made it almost up the hill in the time she had been fighting. A blast, the largest yet, roared down the hill, ripping up everything in its path. Shadow Knights clanged and fell to the still smoking dirt.

The power of the two parts of the Hero's sword was dizzying. The sword wanted to be whole; she could feel it in the power buzzing up her arms. She should charge down the hill, lay waste to those knights in her path, strike down the dwarf before he even saw her coming, and claim the hilt as well. That is what Rose would do; it's what she would want Snow to do.

"Down the hill!" she shouted to Bear. He hesitated only a moment, but then barreled down at her command, following the path that she had burned. She could feel the aching heat pulsing up from the scar in the ground, could smell the tang of hot metal and blood. She raised her sword to blast away the Shadow Knights that had filled in where the others had fallen, swarming towards her like ants.

She saw the body out of the corner of her eye. One of their own men, burned to a black and red husk and grinning in death. She had done that. Another and another mangled corpse lay scattered in her path among the fallen armor. She nearly dropped the sword, but recovered before it fell. Her limbs shook with a sudden numb fear as the Shadow Knights surged towards her. She tried to aim her magic at them, but couldn't seem to grab her fears fast enough to push them out before the Shadow Knights were upon her. She sent a sputtering wave of fire, but it only gave the Shadow Knights a moment of pause.

She would fight. She would be brave like Rose.

The sword blocked a blow she hadn't even seem coming, then another. The sword defended her with more competence than she could attribute to her own poor skill. She could do this. Snow wrangled down her fear and shoved it out through her lungs. She spat another burst of fire behind to keep the Knights off her back. She pushed away her fears and focused on the sword, but fearless as she felt, the sword didn't seem to do any more than defend. She was still blocking but never landing a blow. There was some kind of resistance from the blade that kept Snow from wielding it in an awesome attack the way she knew Rose could.

Suddenly, Snow found herself on the ground, side aching. She tried to focus dazed vision, but couldn't even seem to right herself. Bear roared in pain. Her heart stopped as warm blood hit her face.

.o.o.o.

Rose screamed and fell to her knees, watching as Bear reared to block a Knight that had snuck up behind Snow's defenses, and took the vicious blow meant for her.

She hadn't even questioned when Snow had blown the retreat. A traitorous part of her said it was because she was relieved to run, but another part of her knew it was because she trusted Snow to make the right call, even if Rose didn't understand her reasons. She had retreated up the hill with her men; then watched in confusion as Snow had pelted down the hill, blasting Shadow Knights from her path like a demon from hell. Now she desperately wished to know why.

Rose struggled to shaking legs, and, without thought, she forced those legs to carry her back down the hill. She picked up speed, running wild and alone down the hill. The Knights weren't focused on her, and they didn't even know what hit them as she decapitated three in a swing and slipped through their ranks. She arrived just in time to watch a Shadow Knight snatch the Hero's blade right out of her sister's hand. It retreated, and the other Knights closed ranks around it.

Rose felt her stomach drop as she watched her weapon disappear, but she didn't have the time to spare. The Knights seemed to recover from her unexpected arrival, and she had to duck three almost simultaneous swings to her head. She rolled and jumped back to her feet, standing over her sister and injured friend. He was just injured; he would be fine, she told herself. He had to be.

"Rose, Rose, I'm so sorry," her sister wept, huddling over Bear's bloody form. She was crumpled and dirty, her hair turned completely white. "I failed. I failed you. I failed him." Rose didn't have the spare breath to comfort her. Her sword flew, blocking three different Shadow Knights, and her arms shook and threatened to give out with each one. Rose met an overhead swing that forced her to her knees.

She heard Snow choke halfway through a sob behind her then grow silent. A blast of fire erupted over Rose's shoulder, so hot it singed all the hair from her arm. She heard the roar as Snow followed it with three more blasts in other directions. The Shadow Knights paused in a circle around the sisters, and Rose could almost see the dwarf thinking behind them. He had the sword, should he pull back or risk more Knights to win the third piece as well?

"Courage!" came the cry just outside of the Shadow Knight's ring then the sound of swords on armor. Lieutenant Demory led a small wave of men, forcing the dwarf's decision. The Shadow Knights retreated. Rose felt a relief so potent she nearly fell, but she made it to her sister's side before she collapsed to her knees.

Snow was crying, but quieter now. "The sheath was so powerful," she whispered, as if explaining herself would make it better, "I thought- I thought the sword would be just as powerful as well, but it wouldn't attack. It-" she buried her fingers in Bear's thick, matted fur and couldn't speak further. Rose bowed her head over Bear's. His breath was ragged. Why wasn't he moving?

"You were supposed to stay safe," Rose whispered to him. For a brief flash of a moment, she blamed Snow, but she couldn't seem to support that emotion for long, and she laid a hand on Snow's. "I love you," Rose whispered.

Rose stood. She had to do something. She was a fighter, and she would not wait.

"My Lady Hero." Demory approached her. "We have eyes on the Knight with the sword."

Rose nodded. She had a new goal, and she would fight for it. "Where?"

Demory pointed over her shoulder, and she quickly spotted the small force of Shadow Knights, marching back down the hill. They would join back up with the main force in minutes, and be lost. "We will never reach them in time." Rose grit her teeth. "But we have to try. I don't like our chances if the dwarf gets the blade. Prepare for pursuit." She stared numbly at the large stretch of hill they had to cover.

"Rose," Snow whispered from her position. "I have an idea."

It was Demory who looked to Snow first. "Get the men to push the stones," Snow said, wiping forcefully at her tear-stained eyes. "Roll them down the hill and stop the Knights."

Rose didn't even pause, "Five men to each stone," she shouted, pointing to the round stones that sure enough dotted their hillside, hanging precariously onto their grass perches. "Try to aim the stones at the retreating band of Knights!" The men scattered instantly.

Rose and Demory themselves ran to a stone a few yards below them. With a strength made more of determination than muscle they tipped the stone out of its resting place. It tumbled down the hill, shortly followed by more. It wobbled and jumped and ran the curves of the hill. It missed the group of thieving Knights completely, but crashed into the line of Knights waiting below. Rose could see the inky stains of mist already pulling their armor back together. She watched with tight muscles as stone after stone missed their target. She looked out over the army below. She could see a bubble, a void of Shadow Knights, making its way through the clustered army towards the approaching sword. The dwarf was coming to collect his prize.

Demory cried out beside her, and she caught a look of victory on his face. She turned her attention back to the small band of knights just in time to see the largest stone yet bowl through their center. She didn't wait a moment more. She charged.

.o.o.o.

Snow watched as her sister ran down the hill, steadfast soldiers trailing behind her. "Wait!" she shouted. Her hands wrestled the sheath from its place on her back. "Rose!" she screamed, "Rose!" But she was too far away. Snow was supposed to be the clever one; why hadn't she thought to give their only weapon to the sister with working legs?

She gripped the sheath with white knuckles as she watched Rose gain on the torn up cluster of Knights. She heard the dwarf scream in her mind as he pushed his Knights forward to collect the sword from their fallen comrades, but they would be too late. Rose would get the sword back.

_I made a mistake, trying to fight,_ Snow thought. But she sighed with relief as the mistake was amended, the sword raised high in Rose's hand. It was because of Snow's plan, not her physical efforts.

"She got it. She got the sword back," Snow whispered to Bear, cradling his big head. "You—," she choked on her words, "You were right, Bear. I'm not Rose. I tried to be. I thought I should be. I was so focused on being the wrong sort of Hero, I didn't listen to you. I'm not a fighter, and maybe I shouldn't be." Another sob escaped her, as she thought of all the kindness and quiet strength that she had come to rely on from Bear. "But I would fight for you. If I just knew how, I would fight for you." She gripped the sheath, head bowed in aching sorrow over her own ineffectiveness. She stared, forcing herself to see at the wound that marred his fur. She would heal it if she could. She wanted to, wanted it more than anything before. She breathed in, and felt a new power fill her from the sheath.

.o.o.o.

Rose felt the power of the sword in her every muscle, and didn't realize how much she had missed it till now. She flew. She ducked a jab, spun behind her, shattered a gem, and used the momentum to jump to the next one. Jumping and slashing from Knight to Knight, she felled them all with a grace and precision that was akin to art. She saw the gems, saw exactly what she needed to get to them, and breathed in with a purpose and pursuit she had never felt so potently before. She wanted this war finished. She wanted the dwarf. She wanted revenge.

She paused, for just a moment, in the carnage of black armor that surrounded her. She could feel the dwarf's fear in her steel. He was close.

She kept fighting.

.o.o.o.

White fire blazed around Snow and Bear, and it burned. It burned the way Rose's words lit fires in men's hearts. It burned her in the same way Bear's hazel eyes filled her bones with warmth. It burned, and it healed.

Snow felt every one of her bruises and scrapes disappear. She watched, as the red gash in Bear's side glowed and closed. Suddenly the fire disappeared, but she felt Bear stir beneath her hands.

She cried in joy, wrapping her arms around his head. "Bear! Bear, I thought I'd lost you."

"What happened?" Bear managed to ask.

"You were right," Snow cried into his fur. "You were right. I'm no warrior. I fight in my own way, and if that means that I can heal you then I am fine with that."

Bear looked at her with uncharacteristic confusion. "Your hair. It's gold again."

Snow pulled the ends closer for inspection. She stared at it, brain racing for reasons. "The sheath, I used it differently. I focused on what I wanted instead of pushing away the fears that I didn't and—" she stopped mid-thought. "Rose!"

"Quick!" Snow stood and pulled Bear up with her, struggling to get on his saddle, "You have to get me to—"

She was standing.

Bear stared at her with the same silent surprise she felt.

Snow ran. She ran down the hill on legs that hadn't been able to carry her for two years. She ran towards her sister.

.o.o.o.


	5. Chapter 5

**It is too much work to remember to post chapters weekly, so here is the last chapter immediately.**

.o.o.o.

Rose screamed defiance as she took another shallow cut, this one to her leg, and slammed her blade into the helmet of the Knight. The helmet tumbled to the ground and she smashed the gem with a booted heel.

There were too many. Too many Knights stood between her and the dwarf, and he was moving further and further away from her with every moment. She heard Demory on her left, panting with the same exhaustion she felt sneaking up on her. The dwarf was so close. She couldn't lose him.

_Face me, Dwarf,_ she screamed through the blade.

_Die, Hero,_ was his only response before the Shadow Knights descended again.

She pushed forward, but she knew she was relying on the blade to pull her attacks along. She could strike with inhuman speed, but her blocks were slow and sluggish. She was collecting too many cuts and bruises. She didn't know how much longer she could keep it up.

She grunted as an armor boot kicked hard into her shin. She fell and rolled out of the way of the falling strike that followed.

Rose had watched Snow use the sword to defend her, but how? The sword didn't defend and Snow had no particular skill in sword fighting. It was the reason Rose had given her the sword.

Rose struggled to her feet, and jumped to block a sword aimed at Demory's back. How had Snow done it? Was it simply true that Snow was a better Hero?

_Courage is greatness in what you will pursue and in what you will give up._

What was Snow doing so differently? Rose had been willing to give up her life! She was still willing to fight till—

Something clicked into place. What had Snow said, back in the tent? She couldn't have any fear if she wanted to be a Hero. No fear.

Snow had never really been willing to give up her life or Bear's, but she had given up her fear and simply done what needed to be done. Rose tried to convince herself that she was not afraid, but there was so much around her to fear. She needed— She blocked a swing, and kicked her opponent away. She needed a damn minute to collect her thoughts.

"Demory," she cried, falling back, "Cover me." The lieutenant nodded; never questioning, he pushed away his attacker and fell back to the center of their men with her. Rose closed her eyes and focused on the torrent of fears raging within her.

She feared death. Her own, her sister's, her men's, Bear's, Demory's. She gathered them up, and released them. They were important, but not right now.

She feared failure. She feared losing after all she had fought for. She let it go.

She feared others discovering that she was the fraud she sometimes felt herself to be. She feared not being enough, not living up to her title of Hero. She released those fears, too.

Finally, she felt clear. She felt a meditative calmness. She breathed out and felt a new power from the blade.

_I'm coming for you, Dwarf._

She strode forward into the army of Shadow Knights, towards the fear she could feel emanating from the dwarf. The Shadow Knight's stuttered, as if the dwarf was losing control, but they didn't stop for long.

They attacked, but the blade jumped to defend her. She blocked a blow, a jab, and jumped forward with a strike of her own, then moved on to the next one. Her men followed, keeping the Knights off her back. She pushed forward, faster and faster, until she was running and leaving her men behind. The sword was a blur around her, moving before vague thoughts solidified to direct it. Knights fell before her. She hardly had to think, she just had to move.

She stumbled forward as she suddenly ran out of enemies. The Shadow Knights stood around her in a ring, and at the center was a skinny hunched man with a snow white beard. He hardly looked capable of ravaging country sides, killing royals, and commanding armies, but she knew him. The dwarf. She hadn't seen him in years, since their third battle when he had finally beaten them to finding a part of the Hero's sword. Once he had the hilt he'd sent the Knights to do his bidding.

He shook on knobby knees as she approached, but eyed her with cruel, shrewd eyes. The Knights all took a step, closing the circle tighter in unison. They matched her steps. The intent was clear. The closer she got, the closer they would, too.

"Stay back, Hero," the dwarf spat in a voice like the groaning earth.

"Or what?" Rose asked, taking another step. The circle closed tighter again. "I am not afraid of you," she said, "Which is more than I think you can say." She took another step.

She stood one leap away from him. With the Hero's blade, she might as well have had a knife at his skinny neck.

"Wait," the dwarf cried finally. "You win. I will give it to you. I cannot fight with a great stupid brute like you." He held out the hilt, dangling it in front of her face. Rose smiled, ignoring his jibe. She had barely dared hope it would be this easy, but it was; the dwarf was a coward through and through, and she no longer feared him. She pointed her blade at him and stepped right up close. Let him feel a bit more fear of her. She snatched the hilt from his hand.

Pain exploded in her chest. She looked down just in time to see the dwarf leave his dagger there. She stumbled a moment, then choked as she realized she couldn't breathe. Her lungs heaved with a mighty effort and blood coughed up from her lips. She drove her sword through the belly of the dwarf, and he laughed, even as they both fell to the ground.

Her vision filled with fire, just above her. The heat was so intense she felt the skin of her face crack. She tried to focus as her sister ran— her sister was running. Her sister ran through the hole the fire had cleared in the wall of Shadow Knights.

"Rose!" Snow cried as she tumbled into the clearing on unsteady legs. Rose tried to respond, but couldn't seem to speak around the hot, metallic taste in her mouth. Snow knelt beside Rose and grasped her hand, she was muttering something and holding the sheath. The world was fading quickly to black, but Rose used her last efforts to press the hilt into Snow's hand.

They had won.

Rose released a final breath and died.

.o.o.o.

Snow's heart stopped as Rose collapsed, blood bubbling from her mouth as her breath halted. "No," she screamed. She ripped the knife from her sister's still chest and focused on the wound. She heard the dwarf still laughing and groaning maniacally as he tried to crawl away. Snow forced him from her mind. She gripped the sheath in one hand and her sister's arm in the other, and let the white fire spread over them. The wound closed, but Rose's face stayed pale and still.

"Rose!" Snow cried, vision blurring. She realized distantly that their men stood in silent shock behind her. Bear knelt mournfully beside them, and Demory fell to his knees. "Rose, wake up. I healed you, Rose, you— you have to." Snow choked on her tears and threw the sheath to the ground. What good was its magic if she couldn't save her sister?

She focused instead on the hilt. It could bring life to lifeless armor, why not her sister? She wiped the fear from her mind, and every Knight in the valley fell to their knees. She focused her determination on Rose and threw all the force of her love behind her purpose. The Knights gave a shudder before collapsing into piles of plate metal.

Snow shook. No. She couldn't give up. She couldn't even see through the tears as she felt for the blade in her sister's hand. She cut her fingers on the edge as she grabbed it. In one swing she smashed the Hero's hilt into the wooden one affixed to the blade. The temporary wooden hilt broke instantly. The hilt in her hand hummed as she fit the blade into the hilt with clumsy fingers. The buzzing of power grew louder and louder. She stuffed the blade into the sheath and found herself shaking with the power of the Hero's sword complete. She put the sword in her sister's hands, resting it on her chest in a burial pose.

Snow laid shaking fingers on the sheath. "Demory!" she snapped. Demory was at Rose's side instantly. Snow placed his hands on the sheath next to hers, then Bear's paw next to that. "Want her back." Snow said simply. Snow wiped every hint of fear from her mind, and filled the empty places with love for her sister. The sword glowed. Warm white fire enveloped all of them.

Rose sat up with a gasp.

"No!" The dwarf screamed with weak and dying breath from the corner he had crawled to.

Rose was breathing hard; she felt her chest where the wound had been. She looked up and met Snow's eyes. "I never was a warrior," Snow said quietly. Rose grabbed her sister and clutched her to her chest. They cried and shook and held each other tight.

The dwarf screamed again, fell, and stopped moving. Snow looked over her sister's shoulder. After all they had been through, she couldn't summon up a single ounce of pity for the creature. She breathed a sigh of relief. The war was over.

"Finally," Bear sighed, and dropped in a limp heap to the ground.

Snow was startled out of the hug. The two sisters rushed to Bear's side. The once-massive beast seemed to deflate before their eyes. Rose fumbled with the sword and sheath still in her hands. "The dwarf must have cursed him with his dying breath," she cried.

Snow knelt at his side and laid a hand on the pile of fur. "Quick, the sheath. We'll heal him too—" Snow was startled straight out of her thoughts as the fur suddenly moved again. There was something under it.

A man, naked as the day he was born lifted the bear skin and blinked in the bright sunlight. The sisters stood frozen.

"Aiden!" Demory did not seem to suffer from the same shock as his Lady Heroes. He put his arms around the strange man's neck. "I thought you dead." Demory suddenly pulled back and punched the man in the arm. "All that time, you were right there! Why did you never say a word?"

Snow stared in shock at the two... men she had thought she'd known.

"What is going on?" Rose demanded sharply, voicing Snow's thoughts as well.

"The dwarf cursed me. He wanted the kingdom in chaos, so he removed the king." The man spoke in Bear's familiar deep voice. He met Snow's gaze with Bear's warm hazel eyes. "I was to remain in the shape of a Bear, unable to speak of my curse, until the dwarf's death." He looked pointedly at the still body of the dwarf.

"Wait, so—" Rose fumbled for words as she tried to put together the pieces. Snow didn't even remember how to move her tongue. She could do nothing but stare at the man's face, his handsome face which was so strange and yet so familiar. How many times had she foolishly wished for this?

"This is the man," Demory addressed Rose. "This is the man I told you of, the one I was searching for."

Rose's eyes grew wide as she finally put together all of the hints. "Bear you're," she hesitated only a moment, "the king." Rose bowed as low as her seated position would allow. Snow couldn't seem to coordinate her muscles well enough to even start such a movement.

"My Lady Hero Rose. My dear sweet Rose," Bear chuckled quietly, "I hardly think that is necessary from the sisters who just saved my kingdom." He took both of their hands in his own. Snow blushed, but met his gaze anyway. "Thank you," he whispered to both of them. "Thank you for my kingdom, for your strength, and for your love."

.o.o.o.

Rose gripped Bear's— King Aiden's hand and tried to still the shaking in her entire body. Bear, the friend she had loved so long was a man. A kind, strong, inspiring man. Her heart beat wildly as it jumped to the wish she had never even hoped to pursue. Bear. Her Bear.

She stopped. She looked to Bear's familiar eyes, and found them focused on her sister. Except that, he wasn't really just her Bear, was he? He was both her and her sister's dearest friend. He was their country's king.

She sighed, dropped his hand, and smiled. If there was one thing she had learned today, it was that sometimes what she needed most was the perspective to know what to give up. Rose laid a hand on King Aiden's arm and he turned the full force of his attention on her. "It is a shame you had to be King," she said, ever efficient and to the point. She stood and then helped both him and her sister to their feet. King Aiden looked at her with confusion. She realized suddenly that he had never been as good at masking his emotions as she had assumed. She simply hadn't been able to read the expressions on a bear. "Now that the King is back, he is going to have to go sit on the throne and rule," Rose explained. "And now that the dwarf is defeated a Hero is going to have to go deal with all the little details involved in putting a kingdom back together. You are a king, and I am a Hero. I will miss my dear friend's company, is all."

King Aiden and Snow both looked half-way between confusion and protest.

"It has been years since the court has seen the king's face. The Hero who led the kingdom in his absence should be the one to reinstate him," Snow said finally, not looking quite as comfortable as Rose pretended to be with the separation from their dearest friend.

Rose nodded and, with only a small grunt of stiffness, dropped to one knee. She placed one hand on her sword before her and the other in King Aiden's. She bowed her head. "I pledge my loyalty, my sword, and my life to my King." She looked up. "But, I'm far too busy to deal with such things. The dwarf left the entire south open to goblin raids, then there's the Lords that swore fealty to him who must be dealt with, and any number of other things. A Hero's work is never really done." She looked to Snow. "So it is a good thing we have a second Hero to do what I cannot." Rose stood and took her sister's hand now. "I'm much better at fighting evil than I am at healing kingdoms anyway."

"Thank you," Snow whispered quietly.

Rose shrugged and forced the words to continue from her lips. "It makes sense; the sword is complete, so only one of us needs to be swinging it about." _Besides_, she added for herself, alone. _I want to be a Hero more than I want to be a Queen_. Only as she thought it, did she realize it to be completely true. She loved Bear, but not enough. She wasn't sure that she could always be a Hero, but she wanted— no, needed— to try and keep trying. She couldn't do that with him, so he wasn't right for her. It was that simple. She might not manage to be a Hero for the rest of her life, but she could seek it in moments. And for this moment, in her sister's eyes, she knew that she was a true Hero.

.o.o.o.

Snow gripped the reins of her horse. Aiden was mounted beside her. They were going to take a small fraction of their army to reinstate Aiden on the throne in the capital. Rose was to ride south to quell Lords and raids on the border.

"Are you sure you don't want to come to the capital with us?" Snow asked. "I know how much you love feasts in your honor. All the nobles will want to throw you one, and even you might be able to put on some weight." Snow had never been separated from her sister, and the thought terrified her. So, of course, she masked it with a joke.

Rose shook her head and sighed though she stood proudly, surrounded by her soldiers and Lieutenants. She walked quietly to Snow and laid a hand on her newly-healed legs. "I—" she looked at Aiden, and then back to Snow. "I just need a little time on my own," she said finally, voice barely above a whisper. "I'll be back soon," she added more loudly. "So don't you two go getting married unless I am there to give my little sister away." Aiden coughed in surprise, though Snow noted the blush rising to his cheeks. Even Rose looked uncertain about her attempted joke.

Snow rolled her eyes, forcing away the flutter in her heart. What would Rose do without her here to diffuse her bad jokes?

"Same goes for you. I hear the younger prince used to be something of a charmer before the war. "

Rose laughed, loud and hard at that. She put her hands confidently on her hips and stood back out of the way of the horses. "You tell that pampered prince if he wants to woo me, he can come do it on the battlefield."

"Well, I was already planning on coming along," Demory said with quiet amusement, emerging from the other side of Snow.

Rose's confident smile dropped faster than a stone, and Snow laughed so hard she nearly fell off her horse. "Don't tell me you didn't work it out!" Snow cried, fighting to control herself.

"You might have mentioned you were his brother," she glared at Demory, then at Aiden, then at Snow in turn. The lieutenant shrugged. "Well, I was joking," Rose quickly amended, "So don't you get any ideas."

Demory bowed his head but smiled. "Of course not, My Lady Hero." Rose shook her head in exasperation.

"Go on, you two," she waved Snow and Aiden off.

Snow smiled and waved back, even as she nudged her horse into motion. "I love you, Rose!"

"I love you, Snow!" Rose yelled back, and Snow could just make out the tears at the corners of her sister's eyes. "You stay safe, you hear?" Rose shouted, "Someone needs to groan when I retell for the hundredth time all of my grand stories of being a Hero!"


End file.
